Stocks close out the week mixed again Wall Street gave up much of its early gains in an apt ending to a sideways week as the ongoing rise in rates likely continued to unnerve equities. Treasury yields have risen recently, as the 10-year has climbed to 1.345% from just over 0.900% at the turn of the year and a 2020 low on a closing basis of 0.507% in early August. With equity valuations lofty, the rise in rates is opening the door for a less risky alternative, especially if yields continue to march even higher. That being said, the recovery is on track to accelerate in the second half while D.C. is seeking to pour $1.9T into the economy in the near-term and the Fed has been resolute that its policy settings will not change for quite some time, despite the warming of inflation. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., preliminary February Markit data showed the manufacturing PMI dipped 0.7 points to 58.5 from a 59.2 reading in January. Existing home sales rose 0.6% to a 6.69M rate in January. In energy news, Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is unchanged from last week at 397 with oil rigs down 1 to 305. Data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 110.5M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including nearly 28M in the U.S., and 2.45M deaths due to the disease, including about 494,000 in the U.S. TOP NEWS: Shares of Deere ($DE) were 10% higher after the company's earnings and revenue for its first fiscal quarter beat expectations. John May, chairman and CEO, said "John Deere started 2021 on a strongly positive note" as "results were aided by outstanding performance across our business lineup and improving conditions in the farm and construction sectors." In other earnings news, Roku ($ROKU) shares rose 3.2% after "blowout" results that Benchmark analyst Daniel Kurnos argues "provided the consummate proof of concept quarter for the advertising and distribution platform thesis." Kurnos raised the firm's price target on Roku to $600 from $410 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares and was joined in his target hiking by analysts at Deutsche Bank, DA Davidson, Oppenheimer and JPMorgan, among others. Apple ($AAPL) has held discussions with multiple suppliers of self-driving car sensors known as LiDAR as it continues working on a driverless vehicle project, according to Bloomberg's Edward Ludlow, Gabrielle Coppola, and Mark Gurman, citing people familiar with the matter. Publicly traded makers of automotive LiDAR systems Velodyne Lidar ($VLDR) and Luminar ($LAZR) got an intraday boost following Bloomberg's report on Apple's car efforts, which added that the iPhone maker still has "several years of work ahead" on an autonomous car. In COVID-19 news, Pfizer ($PFE) and BioNTech SE ($BNTX) announced the submission of new data to the FDA demonstrating the stability of their COVID-19 vaccine when stored at "temperatures more commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators." Meanwhile, Novavax ($NVAX) announced a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to provide 1.1B cumulative doses of NVX-CoV2373, Novavax's recombinant protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Meanwhile, shares of Silicon Labs ($SLAB) closed 10% higher after Bloomberg reported that the company is considering a potential breakup and is weighing a sale of its analog chip division. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Evolus ($EOLS), which surged 71.7% after it announced settlement agreements with AbbVie ($ABBV) and Medytox to fully resolve all outstanding litigation, including the United States International Trade Commission case regarding the sale of Jeuveau, between the companies. Also higher were Casa Systems ($CASA) and Everbridge ($EVBG), which gained a respective 24.9% and 14.3% after reporting quarterly results. Among the notable losers were Rackspace ($RXT) and Dropbox ($DBX), which fell 16.2% and 3.8%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results. Reviewing Friday's economic data:Existing home sales increased 0.6% m/m in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million (Briefing.com consensus 6.56 million) from a downwardly revised 6.65 million (from 6.76 million) in December. Total sales in January were up 23.7% from a year ago.The key takeaway from the report is that the supply of existing homes for sale is at an all-time low. That is going to be a pressure point that feeds higher prices, limits total sales potential, and creates affordability pressures that will increase with rising mortgage rates.The IHS flash Markit Manufacturing PMI checked in at 58.5 vs. 59.2 in December; the flash Services PMI checked in at 58.9 vs. 58.3 in December.Russell 2000 +14.8% YTDNasdaq Composite +7.7% YTDS&P 500 +4.0% YTDDow Jones Industrial Average +2.9% YTDMarket SnapshotDow31494.32+0.98(0.00%)Nasdaq13874.49+9.11(0.07%)SP 5003906.71-7.26(-0.19%)10-yr Note -4/321.313NYSEAdv 2118 Dec 1054 Vol 1.1 blnNasdaqAdv 2705 Dec 1249 Vol 6.6 blnIndustry WatchStrong: Industrials, Financials, Energy, MaterialsWeak: Utilities, Health Care, Consumer Staples, Communication Services, Consumer DiscretionaryMoving the Market-- Cyclical sectors support market amid growth optimism, but rise in long-term interest rates pressure growth stocks-- 10-yr yield closes at 1.34%-- Russell 2000 outperformed, Dow set all-time high Disclosure: I may trade in the ticker symbols mentioned, both long or short. 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